On Saturday Feb. 26, thousands
of college students
flooded Penn State’s
University Park campus for the
pseudo-holiday, State Patty’s
Day, clad in green and ready to
drink, causing a new record in
police calls and arrests.
State Patty’s Day is a student-
created holiday, celebrated
on the Saturday before Penn
State’s spring break. The holiday
was created in 2007, when
the real Saint Patrick’s Day fell
during spring break.
Feb. 26 marked the holiday’s
fifth year in existence. A
Facebook group advertising
the drinking holiday sported a
whopping 29,655 Facebook
users likely to attend the event.
State College police force
received 480 calls between
noon Friday and noon Sunday,
exceeding the 365 recorded
during last year’s State Patty’s
Day weekend.
Borough police made 234
arrests and 14 people had to be
hospitalized at Mount Nittany
Medical Center for alcohol
overdoses, according to State
College police. Those numbers
are only for State College
police and do not include the
calls to the University Police
or State Police.
“By comparison, this year’s
State Patty’s Day weekend was
clearly busier from a police
activity standpoint… more people
participated in the event,”
State College police said in a
news release Monday.
The massive number of visitors
caused issues on campus,
such as traffic jams, extremely
long lines for student transportation,
and hour long waits
for many of the bars and
restaurants downtown.
But surprisingly, a majority
of that number were not Penn
State students. College students
traveled from all across
the east coast, from as far as
Rhode Island and North
Carolina, to take part in the
celebration, according to
Facebook.
Despite where they came
from, everyone was sporting
the bright Saint Patrick’s
green. Shirts were sold on and
off campus leading up to the
event. Some shirts sparked
concern in the community for
many believed their slogans
promoted irresponsible drinking,
such as “Kiss Me… I’m
Wasted” and “5% Irish 95%
Drunk.”
When asked about the shirts,
an anonymous Bucks student
responded “They are just for
fun! Everyone needs to chill.”
But other students and community
members believe that
they are sending the wrong
message.
In a quote from The
Collegian, the student-run
newspaper at Penn State, students
expressed their concern,
“As we have seen, the studentrun
event has become a day
where binge drinking is
accepted and encouraged. It’s
simple: We cannot condone the
promotion of irresponsible
behavior.”
But with the drinking starting
as early as 9 a.m. it seems such
behavior reigned on 2011’s
State Patty’s Day.
As for now, State Patty’s Day
2012, is still on, and predicted
to be bigger than ever.
Hopefully, next year’s arrest
and hospitalization numbers
will decrease, restoring the
holiday to a day to have fun
and celebrate… responsibly.